Nick Axford – författare

Founded in 1963, Dartington Social Research Unit conducts scientific research into child development within the context of children's services with a view to informing interventions for children in need. Originating from a festschrift to celebrate the work of Roger Bullock, one of Dartingtons first researchers and a Fellow of the Centre for Social Policy, this book from a prestigious author team examines developments in children's services over the past forty years, providing a context for future policy making. Ten key areas are covered including foster care and family support, while two overview chapters explore 40 years of Social Research and Gaps in the Knowledge and Future Challenges.

Need is a popular but controversial concept in social policy. 'Needs-led' has become a mantra in children's services in recent years, yet theorists still argue about the meaning and value of the concept of 'need'. There are lots of needs assessment at the individual child and population levels, but case files vary enormously in quality and reports of need analyses frequently gather dust on shelves. How, then, should we define and measure children's needs, and how should this influence the design of services? This edited collection answers these questions in order to help policy makers, managers, practitioners and researchers with identifying and serving children in need. It offers a critical appraisal of the state of play regarding the theory of need, the needs that children have, methods for assessing children's needs at the individual and group levels, and approaches to designing services to meet identified needs.

Policy reforms to children's services in the UK and elsewhere encourage a greater focus on outcomes defined in terms of child well-being. Yet for this to happen, we need not only a better understanding of what child well-being is and how services can improve it, but also the ability to measure child well-being in order to evaluate success.This book investigates the main approaches to conceptualising child well-being, applies them to the child population using household survey and agency audit data, then considers the implications for children's services. The author: provides a clear conceptual understanding of five perspectives on well-being: need, rights, poverty, quality of life and social exclusiondemonstrates the value of each perspectivecharts levels of child well-being in an inner-London community, including violated rights and social exclusionsets out the features that children's services must have if they are to improve child well-being defined in these termsThis book should be read by everyone involved in developing, implementing and evaluating children's services, including researchers, policy makers and practitioners.